Surrey’s Dan Moriarty, Josh Blake and Gus Atkinson fought back fabulously and turned the tables on Kent on Day Four of the Second XI Championship match at Beckenham but bad light stopped the visitors from crossing the finish line.
Following a productive evening session on the previous day, where Kent closed at 160/2, the morning on Day Four belonged to Moriarty and Surrey.
Kent struggled to counterattack the 24-year-old’s left-arm spin as Moriarty picked up five batters in his nine overs, taking his overnight figures to an excellent 7/84.
In the second over of the morning, Moriarty got the attacking Alex Blake caught by Amar Virdi for a brisk 46. Soon enough, Will Harby (4) followed suit; this time held by Atkinson, before the left-armer completed his five-for by rapping HM Khan (1) lbw in the 34th over.
Prior to declaring on 239/7 and setting up a target of 332 for the visitors, Moriarty picked up the crucial wickets of the first innings-centurion Harry Finch for a well-made 96 and Fred Klaassen, who played an entertaining cameo of 22 off 17.
Kent were quick off the blocks in the fourth innings as Arafat Bhuiyan trapped opener Sheridon Gumbs lbw for nought. Surrey captain Ben Geddes was then caught by Smith off James Logan’s bowling for 13.
With pressure mounting and the visitors in need of a partnership, 22-year-old Nico Reifer and wicket-keeper-batter Josh Blake put their hands up and added 53 runs together. Logan, however, stalled Surrey’s progress and removed Reifer for a score of 29, bringing Atkinson to the crease.
At that stage, Kent found themselves in a strong position as the visitors, with seven wickets in hand, were still 249 runs away from victory, but the duo of Blake (111*) and Atkinson (79*) turned things around putting on 161 runs at nearly a-run-a-ball.
During their game-changing partnership, Blake crossed the three-figure mark, hitting 15 fours in the process. To score his 79*, all-rounder Atkinson also played attacking cricket and smashed ten boundaries including a six.
However, at the end of three days of intriguing cricket, it was the weather that had the last word. With 88 runs needed in slightly more than 27 overs, bad light interrupted play, and cut short what was increasingly looking like a hard-earned victory for the visitors at Beckenham.
The match was drawn.
A scorecard of the game can be found here.
A report from Day Two can be found here and from Day Three here.
